I've mentioned and reviewed Kari Grady Grossman's book "Bones That Float, A Story of Adopting Cambodia", and recently had the opportunity to interview the author in the course of an international blog book tour.

As this was coming about, a story broke from Cambodia... more

Of the 407 Cambodian children adopted by Americans in 2001, the 405 in 2000, and the fewer since ... leaving almost 5 million kids under 14 in the country in whatever circumstance life presented ... there may very well have been a child that, left in Cambodia, may have contributed to the good of the people, the culture and the country.

It's impossible to predict how any one person's life may end up impacting the world, and it could... more

It must be acknowledged that the numbers of children adopted from one country, then raised in another nowhere approach a percentage of any country's population of children, or of orphans for that matter, that could register as statistically significant, much less enough to be held responsible for any sort of cultural genocide.

It can be argued, however, that a country's loss of even one of its children could be responsible for a sequence... more

My recent post on cultural genocide which illustrated a classic example... the Chagossian islanders being removed from their homes to make way for the American military base on Diego Garcia ... leads in to this one through the often-suggested thought that international adoption is in essence the same sort of thing.

Rather than blast away widely at the picture of children taken from countries to join families in others, I'd like to focus... more

A big part of what I see as my job as International Adoption Blogger and advocate of adoption involves addressing items that appear in the media that cast aspersions on adoption and on adoptive parents, including those who might have an element of fame attached to themselves and therefore to their adopting, and that frame content in a way designed to leave a nasty taste in the mouths of readers.

My response doesn't come as a knee-jerk reaction to any comment with a negative tone, as illuminating dark corners is the only way to rid the institution... more

There's a lot going on in the international adoption world at the moment, as always, so I thought I'd take today's post to take a look at some of things the National Council for Adoption has been keeping track of. The NCFA is not without its critics, but I can agree with many of the positions the organization takes on the issues that concern me, and their site is a good resource.

The Federal Government is at the root of all that is international adoption in the US,... more

In my continuing efforts to expose hidden agendas, to pull back the blanket and show the ugly face hiding under covers of "caring" or "research" or "information", I'm following along on the post I wrote a couple of days ago that did just that.

A couple of people left comments disagreeing with my assessment. A "law review article", according to one comment, " ... need not be written without opinions, observations or even a smattering of inside information."

Dandy.... more

There's a paper making its way around the www these days, the link showing up on groups where slamming international adoption is a primary focus, and it is being held up as a detailed example of all that is wrong with people bringing children from other parts of the world into their families.

Not-at-all-subtly titled, "Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children", there's no hiding the agenda of its author. With his byline adding "Cumberland Law School, Samford University",... more